Improve your balance and mobility with Balance-Based Torso-Weighting (BBTW). The BBTW method — an assessment of directional instability and subsequent strategic weight placement on the torso — has been shown to provide same day improvements in people with balance and mobility challenges. Join me as I interview Cynthia Gibson-Horn, PT, cofounder of Motion Therapeutics, to discuss this innovative treatment that produces immediate improvements in balance and mobility for people with Parkinson’s disease and others with balance and mobility challenges.

Yesterday I helped a therapist with a patient who had a stroke in July 2010. How many of you think you can change balance day one with a treatment??…Not. Well I did with Balance-Based Torso-Weighting and BalanceWear. Once he was strategically weighted he could even close his eyes for 10 seconds without falling. Whereas, prior to BBTW the patient fell forward to the right immediately. Interestingly he reported that prior to wearing BalanceWear he had the feeling like he was on a boat. He felt he was on a sideways seesaw. This feeling was reported as 6/10 with 10 being severe. Once strategically weighted, this sensation improved right away to 4-5/10. Not bad for an hour treatment! In addition, his ability to get up and down from sitting and to roll onto his back improved. He felt his walking was better. His therapist could see a change. Sometimes it isn’t just about walking. It is important to be able to get up and down and stand without loss of balance:-))

Exercise class

Exercise class

Causes of Balance and Mobility Impairment in Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis is a progressive autoimmune disease typically diagnosed in young adults, affecting the central nervous system causing damage to the myelin surrounding the nerves and lesions in the brain. Although the disease progresses differently in each person often gait and mobility problems are encountered. Individuals experience many different symptoms such as loss of sensation, visual or vestibular function, spasticity, weakness, central processing and motor output dysfunction. Any or all of the symptoms may contribute to a loss of balance leading to difficulty in walking.
If you experience balance problems you should see a physical therapist who is knowledgeable in treating patients with multiple sclerosis. Many people in my MS exercise class partially funded by the MSFoundation find they are able to do so much more than they thought they were capable of. When people get the diagnosis that they have a neurodegenerative disease and experience a relapse many do not rehabilitate back to where they started. With proper guidance many of them are experiencing recovery of function that they thought was unattainable.